Think you're tired of receiving junk mail? Ram Avrahami, who lives in Arlington, Va., is really tired of it. In fact, he's so fed up with junk mail that he's striking back by trying to turn a clause in the Virginia code into a weapon against companies that sell their mailing lists to others. According to Section 8.01-40 of the Virginia code, no one is allowed to use another person's name, portrait or picture "for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade" without written consent.

American journalist Nicholas Daniloff, who faces a Soviet trial on spy charges, returned to work Monday and said he hopes his case will be resolved before Friday's U.S.-Soviet planning session for a second superpower summit. "They have many more important things to discuss and prepare," he said of the scheduled meeting Friday and Saturday in Washington between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze.

Thomas Aquinas College near Santa Paula has been named by U. S. News & World Report magazine as the 15th best value among the nation's liberal arts colleges. The publication also named the private Catholic college in the hills between Ojai and Santa Paula as the school with the highest proportion of classes attended by fewer than 20 students.

Nicholas Daniloff, his wife and his children have all safely returned to the United States, but one member of the family is still detained in Moscow--Zeus the dog. Zeus, a white and brown terrier who has been part of the Daniloff family for eight years, was forced to stay behind when the American journalist got word Monday afternoon that Soviet authorities were letting him leave on the evening flight.

Cal State Fullerton's mass communications graduate program in public relations has been rated among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine has ranked the top 15 graduate schools in various fields for the last seven years. This year, graduate schools of journalism and mass communication were added to the listings, and Cal State Fullerton's was listed as No. 11 for its public relations program.

Bernard Henderson--former father-in-law of admitted spy Jonathan Pollard--has invented a hero persona for the convicted spy (letter, Jan. 25). Now he is attempting to invent a villain persona for those who would report the facts (column by Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, Jan. 18). Henderson writes that "Pollard . . . personally as well as others in Naval Intelligence used Polmar frequently to disseminate disinformation, a role Polmar weakly denied. . . ." Fact: I have never met Pollard, never spoken to him by phone, nor in any other way had contact with him. Fact: Naval Intelligence has never used me to disseminate disinformation.

A high-ranking Soviet KGB officer has defected to the West after fleeing East Germany in a helicopter and has been supplying the United States with important information, according to reports published today. The KGB major general is the highest ranking of five defectors who sought U.S. protection last year, U.S. News & World Report magazine reported. The New York Times, in another report, quoted one source as saying that the officer had proven to be much more valuable than Vitaly S.